Hidden in the forest
by Loveforthestory
Summary: Charlie made plans to go hunting. Alone. But things don't turn out the way she planned.
1. Chapter 1

1.

Her plan was to go hunting. _Alone_. But then Connor had asked her about her plans. Bass had walked into the bar right behind Connor. He had looked at her with his stupid blue puppy eyes before he had asked her if she was going alone. Miles had just told her _hell no_ when he had realized she would be out there on her own again. And Aaron? Aaron had begged her to not leave him with Priscilla and Rachel.

Her plan _was_ to go hunting. Alone. But when Charlie walks out of Willoughby with the weight of her crossbow against her shoulder blades, all the men in her life are walking behind her.

Aaron mumbles something when he adjusts his backpack around his shoulders. Bass and Miles bicker about something she doesn't care about. But as long as they are bickering they don't have time to kill each other. And that means _she_ doesn't have to stop another round of who gets to kill who this time. Connor's grin tells her he is going to tell her about his date from last weekend.

She takes a deep breath and tries to tune them all out while she focuses on the path in front of her and the pale sunlight on her skin.

They find a cabin with enough rooms for all of them on their second day on the road. Tall trees shield the cabin from unwanted eyes. The branches of the old trees are thick dark lines against the heavy autumn sky.

When they walk up the steps of the wooden porch of the cabin, a group of birds scatter into flight in between the trees. Their high pitched shrieks are hollow and sharp in the grey sky.

Aaron looks up. 'That's not scary _at all_.'

'Afraid of a couple of birds, Staypuft?' A smug grin appears on Bass' face.

'I thought you were afraid of bees, Aaron?' Miles asks.

' _Allergic_. I am allergic to bees.' Aaron walks inside the house and decides to ignore both men.

Bass and Miles exchange a grin.

The cabin has a fireplace and smells of wood and the forest. Rain is on its way and Charlie is grateful for the dry wood that's left behind next to the fireplace. It means warmth, food and light. But nobody seems to care about the dry wood when Aaron opens a kitchen cabinet and finds a bottle of whiskey. Charlie just rolls her eyes at the men around her who act like a couple of children.

She goes hunting. The men stay at the cabin. When daylight is slowly fading, she walks into the small kitchen with enough meat to feed all of them. Her hair is wet from the cool autumn rain. Connor throws a towel at her with a smirk on his face. Charlie is still not sure _what_ they did all day, but she does know it included a lot of whiskey and bullshit stories.

They have dinner. Bass has only made two insults about Aaron so far. Charlie surprises him when she kicks him under the table when he is about to make insult number three. When he looks up, she refuses to think about the depth of his amused glare.

After dinner Connor and Miles fight over who can build a better fire. Charlie is standing in the doorway. She rolls her eyes while she looks at both men but she can't stop the smile that appears on her face.

And then she looks at Bass. He just looks a stupid amount of happy, sitting on the small couch in front of the fireplace while he is watching Connor and Miles. Bass can bitch all he wants, she knows how much he craves to be a part of whatever this is.

The rich scent of the burning wood in the fireplace fills the living room. More rain starts to fall. The crackling sounds of the fire join the sound of rain on the roof. It's dark outside and the light of the fire reflects in the endless deep darkness of the glass of the windows. They all gather around the fire. The bottle of whiskey Aaron found is standing on the wooden coffee table.

Charlie can still feel the chill of a late long afternoon in the forest, but the heat of the fire is slowly reaching her. The whisky is warming her from within. The rain is making slow paths on the glass of the windows. Charlie dares Aaron to tell one of his ghost stories. And because Aaron is just the right amount of drunk, he starts telling her one of his best ones that starts with a deserted road in the middle of a dark, deep forest.

Bass' fingers are wrapped around the bottle of whiskey. He looks at Miles and Connor who are sharing a couch and his heart swells because they are finally getting along. It's good to see his kid and brother in one room. And then, he looks at Charlie while she listens to Stay puft's story. Her hair is slowly drying in front of the fire.

Charlie lets Aaron's story take her away from their cabin and into a world of an old, almost forgotten house and rooms filled with dark shadows. She has always loved listening to him and his stories about a world from a long time ago. She looks at him. She looks at Connor, Miles and Bass. She had been looking forward to being alone. To hunt. To think. But now they are here with her, she realizes she is glad they are here. Of course she is not going to tell them. _Especially_ not Monroe.

* * *

She lets the warmth of the fire warm her skin while she lets time slowly move them deeper into the night. Connor shares a memory of a Halloween from years and a lifetime ago back in Jasper. He doesn't talk that easily about his life before the blackout. It is something they all have in common. But when he does share his personal memory and mentions Emma, she can see how much it means to Bass. There is tension in his jaws, but she can see how his eyes soften. And when he listens to Connor, she just watches him.

She has no idea how late it is. She just listens to their voices and stories. She yawns. She knows Monroe is taking first watch later. It's an old habit. And although the war is over and life is changing again, nobody seems to want to change it. She ignores the fact that her mind relaxes, knowing she can sleep while he is on watch.

Her muscles and heavy eyes remind of her how much she is looking forward to a soft pillow under her head. She gets up and tells her guys goodnight. She throws a pillow from the couch to Connor when he tries to hug her goodnight.

'Night kid.' Miles grins. He looks at the bottle on the table before he gets up from the couch. 'I am going to see if there is more whiskey in the kitchen.'

'Good plan brother.' Bass nods to Miles. And then he looks at her. In the middle of the warmth of the living room and the sound of the rain outside, Bass' eyes wish her goodnight.

She walks through the hallway of the house and into the room that will be her bedroom for tonight. There is a chill in the room. The wind is howling through the forest. It's a deep sound that reminds her of the ghosts and dark shadows in Aaron's story.

She walks over to the window next to her bed. She wants to close the curtains to keep the worst chill of the wind that seems to move straight through the window out of the room.

When her hands move to the heavy fabric of the curtains, she sees a dark shadow move at the other side of her window. She is close enough to touch the glass and the shadow is close enough to fill her next heartbeat with adrenaline. All of a sudden a pale face is staring at her from the other side of the window. Cold shock fills her chest. A scream escapes from her lips. And then, she looks straight at Miles' face at the other side of the window, who is holding a candle under his face to lighten up his deep eyes and the strong lines of his jaws in the darkness of the night. There is a wide grin on his face.

Bass and Connor are sharing the bottle of whiskey in front of the fire in the living room when they hear her scream. They both grab their gun before they rush over to her. Aaron follows them. They all walk into her bedroom where they find a pissed off Charlie standing in front of her window and a grinning Miles who is standing on the porch outside.

'Jesus…Miles,' Charlie yells at Miles and his stupid face at the other side of the window.

When Charlie turns around, her three musketeers are there. Connor and Bass are standing next to each other with their guns in their hands. Aaron is holding a heavy silver candle stick.

Bass' hand is still firmly wrapped around his gun when he lowers it slowly. Connor is grinning next to him. Bass isn't. He hears his brother's laugh from the other side of the damn wall and he knows what the moron did. It's an old trick they used to scare the shit out of each other and their friends when they were teenagers. He tries to swallow away the sickening worry he had felt when he had heard Charlotte's scream.

Charlie is pissed. And because Miles is not in the room to yell at, she looks at Bass and feels even more irritated because of the way he looks at her. 'What are you looking at?'

Miles finally walks into her bedroom with a big grin on his face. 'She is _so_ going to kill you for what you just did _.'_ Aaron says behind his back.

Charlie' eyes are filled with annoyance. She crosses her arms before her chest. Raindrops moves from Miles' dark hair before they brush his necklace. 'You should have seen the look on your face, kid.' Miles grins.

Connor smirks at his dad and the way he is unable to keep the worry for Charlie out of his eyes. He takes one step closer to him. He keeps his voice low, making sure only Bass can hear him. 'You should have seen the look on yours, dad.'

* * *

 **Author's Note** This is my story for the Halloween fic fest organized by the GSC. Thank you for organizing another creative event! I love this time of the year and the deep, rich scent of autumn and rain. A special thank you for Threemagpies for her valuable feedback. I am working on chapter two. I hope you all have an amazing autumn! Love from Love


	2. Chapter 2

2.

She has the living room all to herself. Charlie enjoys the soft comfort of the couch and the warmth of the fire in the fireplace. She stares into the flames while midnight slowly creeps towards a new morning. She breathes in the comforting scent of wood and pinecones.

She _was_ ready to fall asleep with the lazy glow of whiskey and an evening filled with good stories and good company. But that was before Miles had decided to be an asshole and scare the shit out of her.

The bottle of whiskey on the wooden table in front of her keeps her company. She listens to the sounds of the forest outside. It's quiet inside. The crackling of the fire fills the living room until the sound of the kitchen door being closed pulls her away from her slow stare into the fire.

She listens to the heavy familiar sound of his boots on the kitchen floor until he walks in and his eyes find hers. 'Hey..' Her voice sounds relaxed.

Bass moves his hand through his hair. He puts his leather jacket over a kitchen chair. 'Hey..'

Charlie knows him. She knows he has checked the windows, the locks and the small area between their cabin and the line of the dark shadows of the trees around it. It is what he does. It is what _they_ still do every single night after years on the road.

Charlie is aware of how Bass fills the entire living room. She is aware of wide shoulders and blue eyes and the sound of his boots on the floor. She follows him through the room with her eyes and she realizes that for the first time, she is thinking about where he is going to sit. He sits down _next to her._

She can smell the rain filled night air he has walked into the room from outside. But she can also smell the whiskey and the leather of his black leather jacket that mixes with the forest air.

She slowly lets the warmth of the fire guide her back to her stare into the flames. She takes the bottle of whiskey and lets the liquid warm her from within before she offers him the bottle without looking at him. Is another thing they still do. They listen to the sounds of the night. They drink. They don't have to talk.

Bass eyes light up when she shares the whiskey with him. She's probably not even aware of what it does to him when she sits down next to him, relaxed and willing to share a night and a bottle of whiskey with him. She's lost in her own thoughts but her fingers still brush against his. She doesn't seem to notice. She looks relaxed and beautiful as hell. Her arm is touching his but she doesn't seem to mind. _Hell_ , he doesn't mind.

Watching Miles scare the shit out of Charlotte and his brother's wide as fuck grin when he had walked back inside the house brought back memories of a lifetime ago. It's an old trick they used to scare the shit out of each other _and_ to get the girls they wanted when they were teenagers. Their plan had been simple: one of them scared the girl, the other was there to comfort her. It had always worked and they always thought it was the best plan in the history of ever.

Charlie's eyes move over his face. A slow, wide smug grin appears on Bass' face. It is a grin she can't ignore. 'What?'

Bass grin gets even wider. He moves his arm over the back of the couch in a relaxed effortless movement. 'What Miles did back there?' He nods towards her bedroom while he takes another swig from the bottle. 'We used to do that all the time.'

There is confusion in her eyes. Bass tries to ignore how good it feels when she looks at him the way she does because he knows something she doesn't. He also decides not to tell her how adorable she looks when she is annoyed. He does tell her about their brilliant plan.

'We always got the girls we wanted. Best strategy in the history of ever.' Pride mixes with the blue of his eyes.

Charlie smiles. She tries to picture Miles and Bass when they were younger. But she also rolls her eyes at him. 'So one of you scared the shit out of a girl, the other comforted her?' She keeps on looking at him with her best _are you freaking kidding me now_ look. 'Did that shit actually work?

She ignores the weight of his arm behind her on the back of the couch. The warmth of his skin radiates towards the skin of her neck, even through his shirt. She ignores the way her breast is close to his chest and shirt.

He moves his head closer to hers. He fights the urge to nuzzle her neck. 'You tell me, Charlotte.' His voice is deep and filled with burning tease.

Charlie's eyes move from his eyes to his scruff. Her name laced in his low, deep voice still lingers between them. She follows the lines of his strong neck before he catches her with his eyes. She forgets about the whiskey. She forgets to tell him to go to hell. There is too much Monroe sitting so close to her.

Bass slowly moves his fingers through her hair. He moves a lock of hair behind her ear. He watches her. She is still looking at him. She is still sitting next to him. He expects her to tell him to go to hell. He expects to see a wave of disgust in her eyes. But he can only see hesitation. And then he licks her bottom lip. It is everything he needs. He moves his arm around her shoulder to press her closer. When her eyes still haven't filled with anger or loathing, he can't stop himself. His wraps his hand around her cheek before he kisses her slowly and deeply.

Charlie lets him kiss her. His mouth is warmth. She can taste the whiskey he has been drinking on her lips. War and their blackout world are far away. She can feel him swirl inside her belly. His mouth is hot and his hands on her body are heated and in control. He covers her mouth with firm lips and eager want.

Bass knows they can get caught like this. But hell, she feels good. She feels too good to stop whatever the hell is happening. She moans softly against his mouth. He craves to to hear her moan against his damn mouth again. He pulls her closer.

Charlie can't stop. She doesn't want to stop. She wraps her hands around his face. Her tongue finds his. She almost drowns in his low grunt. She straddles him. Her hands find the wide wall of his chest. Bass is everywhere. His hand moves under her tank and when the calloused skin of his fingers caresses her skin, the only thing she can do is close her eyes and give into him.

His fingers dig deeper into the skin of her legs. He knows where they will take this. He wants her. _Fuck_. She wants _him_. Maybe this is a stupid as hell plan. But he is Sebastian Monroe. He can still do whatever the hell he wants.

The wind howls around the house. The rain beats against the window. But he only listens to her breathing. The fire burns slowly and adds a glow to the room of a small cabin hidden in the forest. It's quit inside. He kisses her again. His hand moves into her hair. It is him and her and a couch hidden in a forest. They lose themselves in each other in the dark while his mouth refuses to let hers go.

* * *

The sound of a thick branch moving against the window across from his bed wakes Miles up. He groans into the darkness of the room. He is _not_ going to get out of bed. He knows Charlie is probably trying to get back at him. He knows Bass is probably more than willing to help her. They are a couple of morons. It's not going to work.

He is tired. He has a headache. He needs to get some fucking sleep. He curses before he decides sleep is more important than Bass and Charlie acting like morons in the middle of the fucking night.

He hears another sound. It's not the rain. It's not the wind. It sends a cold wave of ice through his blood. It's like the wind moves through the wood of the house. He opens his eyes. Maybe he had too much fucking whiskey. Because when he looks up, he sees something move at the other side of his window. A dark shadow creeps alongside window. He doesn't know what the hell is happening, but there is something changing inside the room. When he moves his hand over his face to focus, he swears he can see a cloud of icy breath against the glass of the window. When he looks again, the shadow is gone. He groans again.

'Yeah, definitely too much whiskey.'

* * *

Bass presses another kiss against her temple. His arms encircle her while her long hair softly brushes against his chest. She has wrapped herself around him on the small couch. He makes slow paths with his fingers over the skin of her back. 'Thinking about how to get back at Miles?'

A smile appears around her full lips. The warmth of his voice and breath are close to her skin. She looks away from the fire and her eyes connect with his. 'Not tonight. I think I am going to wait a little.' She looks at Bass with a wide smirk on her face. 'But yeah, I am definitely going to get my revenge.'

'That's smart.' Bass grins. He tries to ignore how her hoarse, sexy as fuck voice shoots straight to his cock. 'Need some help with that ?' His voice is deep and laced with a hint of smugness.

'Maybe….' She smiles at him. She tries to ignore the pride in his eyes when she offers to include him in her revenge plans. She probably will let him help her because no one in the world knows Miles better than Bass.

Bass has to swallow away the way she looks at him. He has never seen her like this. He slowly kisses her. Charlie can feel him grin against her mouth. She wraps her hand around his face while he moves his arm around her middle to pull her closer. The air outside is filled with rain. It's cold. But her skin is warmth against his chest.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I love cabins in the forest so working on this story is so much fun! Thank you so much for your comments and follows for chapter one. I love them! There will be a third chapter and I hope I can publish that chapter next week. Love from Love**


	3. Chapter 3

3.

The light of the fire in the fireplace adds a golden deep glow to the shadows in the small living room. It's late. The night outside their cabin is young. The wind flows through the forest and a curtain of rain hides the cabin from the rest of the world.

Everyone is asleep. But she is here. Bass is close. They are sharing a small couch while the rain beats against the windows. His hands are everywhere. They make slow trails over her back and caress her shoulders. His fingers brush against the skin of her neck while his mouth covers hers.

Charlie soaks up the way he is kissing her. When he slowly moves his fingers into her hair she can't stop a new moan that builds up inside of her. Charlie knows that Bass has heard her. She can feel it in the tension of his shoulders and in the way his breathing changes and becomes more heavy.

Her soft moan wakes up more want for her. Bass can't get enough of the way she feels against his body. He fucking loves the weight of her body against his. Her breasts feel soft and heavy against his chest, even with his shirt on. Her body is strong with soft lines and his mind keeps on forming the same images, filled with her moans and her wrapped around him.

Bass stops kissing her, his hand is wrapped around her cheek. His other hand is on her back. Her breasts are pressed against his chest. She looks into his eyes. And they both know where they will take this. His body is wide and hard and so close to hers. Bass knows they should stop this. But then he sees a change in the blue of her eyes and the way she is looking at him and his dick responds to her. He swallows.

Charlie knows she has got his attention. It is impossible to look away from him. She is soaking up the way he looks at her. It's new and powerful. The way he can't look away from her flows through her body.

A soft smile plays with her lips. She waits. The hungry blue of his eyes almost overwhelms her. Without looking away from him, she slowly moves her hand to her neck, and over her breasts and to the button of her jeans. She feels a rush of being seen and wanted that flows to her core and through her belly. She slowly moves her jeans and black panties over her hips. Bass demands her close again while his fingers slowly move over the soft skin of her thigh. He kisses her again. She helps him move his jeans over his wide thighs. He doesn't stop her. Her fingers brush his thighs. A low grunt forms in the back of his throat. She can feel his grunt inside of her. She is still wearing her tank and bra. He is still wearing his shirt. He helps her find her place on his lap when she straddles him again. Bass can feel her wet heat radiate towards where he fucking craves her the most. Charlie slowly moves over his deep blonde curls and his cock that feels strong and wide between her thighs.

'Fuck… Charlie…' Bass groans while her eyes connect with his. She is so fucking wet for him that he almost explodes.

Hearing her own name in a low, rough curse makes her lose herself in him even more. Seeing his hunger for her written in his eyes makes her discover a new rush of want and feeling desired.

With a hungry growl Bass fills her. He watches how she closes her eyes. Her hands are searching for his chest. And he can't look away. She is beautiful as hell. Her hands move through his hair, his arms move around her. Every time he pulls her closer, she can feel him deeper inside of her. He watches how she slowly loses herself in the rhythm of his thrusts.

'Don't stop..' Her eyes are still closed and her words escape from her lips before she can stop them. His thighs are wide and strong against her legs and she can feel the strength of his muscles against her skin every time he fills her again.

Her whisper in the quiet warmth in front of the fireplace surprises him. He is not used to her asking him for anything. He wants to say something smug but she is too damn beautiful. He keeps on giving her what she is asking him for with her eyes until she comes in strong waves around him.

She comes around him and his chest close. It is so intense that she almost flows into a space where her body melts into his and her thoughts flow in waves around the sound of his and her breathing. But his low whispers in her hair and the way he holds her pull her back to him.

He holds her. He watches her. Her eyes are searching for his in a way he has never seen before. _Hell_ , he wants her. He wants her so fucking bad that he can't control himself anymore.

'Dammit.' His curse fills the space between them. He can't fuck her the way he wants to fuck her, here on this small couch in a living room where they could be interrupted. He wants her all for himself. He wants her under him, in a damn bed, hidden in the cover of the darkness of the night.

Charlie looks at him with a question in her eyes.

'Come on…' His voice is deep and filled with knowing what he wants. It sends a shiver through her body. She can feel his heartbeat against her skin. He helps her move her legs around him before he carries her to his room on the other side of the small cabin.

When he closes the door of his room behind them with her still wrapped around him, Charlie feels the shift inside of him. His eyes are more hungry when they search for hers. It reminds her of the focus she finds in there when he fights. Bass slowly walks them to the bed. Charlie feels the soft pressure of the mattress under her when he slowly moves her onto the bed. He doesn't talk. He doesn't kiss her. He just looks at her with a hunger that makes her swallow. His body is wide and tall and his hand moves to her thigh to tell her exactly what he is going to do. He never looks away. His first thrust in the dark bedroom is strong and powerful, just like the steel blue in his eyes. She lets out a deep moan. He silences her with a deep, rough kiss.

* * *

It's still raining. She is still wrapped around him. His arm feels heavy around her body, but it's a good, sheltered and warm kind of heavy. The two of them in a small bed in the dark had been intense and fast and rough and quick. Feeling him come had been so intense that she can still hear the echo of his deep grunt in the dark.

They don't talk. His body is close to hers. He kisses her again. She takes of his shirt. She kisses his shoulders. Her fingers follow the lines of his body. He takes of her tank and slowly and skillfully opens her bra with his mouth still on hers. She wants to tell him he is being a smug asshole when he grins against her mouth when he feels her moan. He kisses her before she can tell him he is a smug asshole. He kisses her over and over again. He claims her with his mouth and tongue before he fills her again.

* * *

It's late. Or early. She is not sure. She feels sleepy and relaxed. His skin is warm against hers. The room around them is dark. They are listening to the rain. His fingers lazily move over her body.

'You can't fall asleep here Charlotte…' His voice sounds hoarse. The scent of her skin is close. _Fuck._ He wishes she could. It's cold outside. The wind is still howling around the house. He wants to hold her and fall asleep with her wrapped around him. He wants to wake her up so he can make her come again.

'Why not…' Her voice sounds sleepy, her breath is close to his chest. She is too close to deep relaxed sleep to lift her head.

'Because Miles will kill me when he finds you here in my bed..'

'Yeah, so?'

Bass can feel her smile against his chest. He curses inside his head but at the same time a huge grin appears on his face. Fuck. He likes this about her. She is never afraid to tell him exactly what she thinks. He pulls her closer.

Charlie knows Bass is right. But his body is hard and warmth against hers in the middle of a night filled with rain and wind. The matrass is soft. His hands demanding her close and that keep on exploring every part of her, is a new kind of good she is not willing to part with. But she knows that for now, she has to go.

She lets him kiss her again until she slowly untangles herself from him. When she finally gets out of the bed, his hand brushes against her leg. She puts on her tank and panties and grabs her jeans. Her eyes meet his when she walks out of the room.

She is about to walk into her room when he is suddenly standing right behind her. She turns around and her eyes meet his.

'What?' She frowns, her voice barely a whisper in the darkness of the hallway.

The last light of the fire in the fireplace in the living room flows through the hallway before it finds his face. She can see a deep intensity in his eyes. He doesn't answer her. He just moves his fingers under her chin and his mouth over hers.

'Goodnight Charlotte..' His voice is deep warmth against her lips before he lets her go.

When he walks back to his room she moves under the covers of the empty bed. The cabin is quiet, the forest filled with wind. She can still taste him on her lips. She falls asleep with his scent close and the sound of rain against her window.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I know it has been a while since I updated. Life is hectic but please know how much I love writing. I still love working on all my stories and it is so much fun to return to this story! Thank you so much for all your reviews and follows, I really appreciate them. Love from Love**


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